A Bit of a Raptor Afternoon

Folly Farm
With the harvesting almost complete, I thought I would make a trip to Folly Farm and Foxhill to see what was about. As I parked up at the entrance to Folly Farm, the sun came out, which I wasn't expecting, but I wasn't complaining. The first bird to greet me was a fly-by Grey Wagtail, which was totally unexpected. I had thought I might come across a few Yellow Wagtails, but to be honest I needed to be up close to the cattle on the hill. But with Benji with me I didn't fancy upsetting the cattle.

Over the field to my right, as I made my way down to the copse, were 3 Red Kites and a pair of Buzzards circling overhead. There was obviously still plenty going on in the harvested field and as I made my way down the track so several Long-tailed Field Mice shot across the path into the long grass on my left. With the chance of  fallen grain, these little mammals were taking a chance with so many raptors around. A loud squeal to my right and sure enough a mouse had met a perilous death. Not by a bird of prey, but I suspect by a Weasel or Stoat.

Looking back at the track were Long-tailed Field Mice had been scurrying across from the corn field on the left. They were being very brave with Stoats, Weasels and Kestrels about.

One of 3 Red Kites gliding over the fields

On the lookout for a free meal

Red Kite

A lot of the vegetation has been cleared along the track down to the copse, to make way for the tractors. But where it laid untouched there were lots of insects feeding on the few remaining flowers, including Flesh Flies, 22-Spot Ladybird, 7-Spot Ladybird, Heineken Fly (Rhingia campestris), Common Nettle-tap moth.

Rhingia campestris

Heineken Fly

Rhingia campestris and on the left possibly a 22-Spot Ladybird

7-Spot Ladybird

Flesh Fly

Wasp sp. !

Common Nettle-tap moth

As I got close to the copse, a small flock of birds flew over my head and a quick look up revealed 11 Corn Bunting and as they passed over the copse in front of me, a few birds in the bushes there began to respond to them flying overhead, with a lot of tweeting. It wasn't until I got to the copse that those few birds were actually 10 birds that quickly took off to follow the other flock.

At the copse a Chiffchaff called, then a Common Whitethroat and then a very subdued sub-song of a Blackcap. It was so quite it would have been really easy to have missed. Also about here a few Speckled Woods and Green-veined Whites.

Speckled Wood sunbathing on the fallen straw

This one sitting on the leaves of a Hawthorn has a damaged wing

And this one is perched on straw hanging off a bush

From the copse I walked a further 100 metres or so up the track and was amazed by the amount of berries on the Hawthorns. Its been a very good year by the looks of it.

The Hawthorns are looking good this year

With masses of berries

As I made my way back to the car a pair of Kestrels flew over the track and one began hovering over the other field on my right, before heading moving further up the field and disappearing over the rise. By the car another Chiffchaff called as did a Blackcap. The one thing I did note though, was that I didn't record a single Yellowhammer.

Kestrel hovering right over my head

And then moves off up the field

Before hovering again

Birds recorded: 3 Red Kite, 4 Buzzard, 2 Kestrel, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, 1 Stock Dove, Wood Pigeon, 5 Swallow, Grey Wagtail, Robin, Blackbird, Common Whitethroat, 2 Blackcap, 2 Chiffchaff, Great Tit, 5 Blue Tit, Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Chaffinch, Linnet, Goldfinch and Corn Bunting.

Butterflies recorded: 6 Speckled Wood and 3 Green-veined Whites.

Other invertebrate: Common Nettle-tap Moth, Common Amber Snail, White-lipped Snail, Common Earthworm, Meadow Grasshopper, Flesh Flies, Rhingia campestris, 22-Spot Ladybird, 7-Spot Ladybird and a Wasp sp.

Mammals recorded: Several Long-tailed Field Mice and 5 Rabbits
Foxhill
Having spent a good hour at Folly Farm, I drove off to Foxhill to see if there was anything about. It was pretty quiet but 7 Buzzards circling over the fields in the distance was nice to watch. Other birds of note were a Chiffchaff and a Yellow Wagtail.

One of the 7 Buzzards sits on a hedge

Before joining the others. In total there were 7 birds circling.

Birds recorded: 7 Buzzard, large gulls, Wood Pigeon, Yellow Wagtail, 1 Chiffchaff, Wren, Rook, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Linnet and Corn Bunting

A Bit of a Mixed Bag

Unfortunately I was house-bound today, but there were some interesting sightings out in the back garden to make up for it. As I was letting the chickens out at 7:15am a Yellow Wagtail flew over the house, followed by a pair of House Martins, all heading south. Later in the day another pair of Martin's were feeding above the house and they also drifted off in a southerly direction.

The sun never really came out and though there was the odd patch of blue sky, it remained cloudy all day, which made my next discovery a bit of an oddity. On what is left of the Purple Loosestrife a Helophilus pendulus hoverfly was feeding on the last remaining flowers. What makes this hoverfly unique is that its other name is the Sun-fly as it's "normally" only ever seen when the sun is shining brightly.

The Sun-fly

Comes into land on the Purple Loosestrife

A Helophilus pendulus hoverfly very bright and distinguishable from other hoverflies
On the Buddleia there were 4 Red Admirals, 2 Large Whites, a Small Tortoiseshell and for the first time that I've seen this year a Speckled Wood actually stopping over in the garden and feeding alongside the Red Admirals. However my first impression of it, was that it was a very pale Comma, the wings were absolutely shredded and it wasn't until it opened up them up that I realised it was a Speckled Wood.

Red Admiral on the Buddleia

One of two Large Whites in the garden today

Not a Comma but a very bedraggled Speckled Wood

Just about hanging in there.

Sadly there were no Commas today, which got me thinking that the the two I saw the other day (2 Sep) could possibly have been two newly hatched ones from my nettle patch. I'm not sure how long the pupal stage takes, but it does seem a bit of a coincidence, plus they were in absolute pristine condition.
In fact after a bit of googling I came across the BBC's "How to grow your own butterflies" Page and their Commas took approx. 2 weeks. So there we have it. So I shall have to keep my eyes open as there were at least 4 caterpillars a few weeks back.

September Sun

As the sun began to break through this morning, so the butterflies started to return to the Buddleia. The first on the scene was a Red Admiral, followed by 2 more, then 2 Commas and 2 Small Tortoiseshells. A Large White was next, with a fly-by Speckled Wood, which stopped briefly before flying off into the neighbours garden.

Red Admiral

A Red Admiral prepares to take off as a bee approaches.

One of the two Small Tortoiseshells

And the second

A Comma

In pristine condition

The comma on the underwing, hence its name

Though the "comma" is quite noticeable on the very dense brown underwings.

But with a little bit of flash the underwings are quite colourful

And then the biggest surprise of the morning, a Hummingbird Hawk-moth, which flitted back and forth from the Buddleia to the Honeysuckle and then over the garden fence. It did this several times before disappearing altogether. Also on the Buddleia a few Drone Flies.

A nice surprise to see this Hummingbird Hawk-moth on the Buddleia this morning

Hummingbird Hawk-moth

Macroglossum stellatarum

Its hovering behaviour and audible humming noise gives its name

The long proboscis is quite noticeable here

Even the goldfish were enjoying the sunny conditions, as was a croaking Frog. Not that I could locate it, unlike last night, when there were at least 5 hopping about on the lawn.

Even the Goldfish are enjoying the Autumn sun

Other highlights my first Autumn Meadow Pipits, with several passing overhead with two Swallows also heading south and late afternoon a male Southern Hawker appeared briefly over the back garden.

Sad Times

Having not visited Stratton Wood for quite sometime, I realised today that I'd also not visited Liden Lagoon for quite awhile either. So Liden it was to be and as I made my way down to the waters edge from the car park, I was amazed by the amount of thick gooey sponge-like algae that was spread a good 80% of the pool. I know I've not lived in Swindon long, but this is the first time I've seen this water in such a sorry state. Talking to the locals it not been like this for many many years. Even the birds were struggling to get through it.

Thick algae across the pool.

Looks more like a field than water.

A Grey Heron wades through the "sponge"

The algae has definitely had an effect on the geese, with just one pair of Canada Geese on the water. There were dozens of Moorhens and Coots about, and there was even a freshly hatched Coot chick swimming about. Though according to locals there were 2, the day before. There was a huge presence of Mallard, with at least 70 birds and in among them I came across 14 Tufted Duck, which is a pretty good number. Other birds of note were a pair of Grey Wagtails, a Kingfisher that just eluded the camera, and 3 Chiffchaff calling.

A Coot chick just about manages to make its way to mum through the algae.

Another late youngster, this time a Mallard duckling

A Mallard swimming in a green sea

These Tufted Duck and Coot have found one of the few open stretches of water at the lagoon.

When I first arrived at the waters edge, there were a few Mute Swans on the bank far to my right, and when I had walked around and ended up on the tarmac path, they had gathered by the edge. I say they, as all I could see was one adult and 3 juveniles. When I stopped and asked a few locals when they had last seen both adults, the reply was about 2 weeks ago. One of the dog walkers told me that she had found the charred remains of a big bird just past the overflow between 23 - 26 Aug and that there was a leg and a lot of white feathers on the ground. She was kind of enough to email me a photograph she took of the remains and it can be seen below.  Tomorrow I will try and find out what happened. Its absolutely shocking!!

Just one adult and 3 juvenile Mute Swans

And this I'm afraid looks like the remains of the other parent. 

Birds recorded: 1 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Grey Heron, 4 Mute Swan (adult + 3 juveniles), 2 Canada Goose, 70+ Mallard, 14 Tufted Duck, Moorhen, many Coot (adults + 1 chick), 7 Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, 1 Kingfisher, 10 Swallows, 2 Grey Wagtail, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, 2 Chiffchaff, Long-tailed Tit, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Starling, House Sparrow and Goldfinch.

Also seen: Grey Squirrel, Bream and Common Carp